How does the sauna help maintain your health?

The profession of sauna master carries great responsibility, which is why Elamus SPA’s sauna masters are constantly furthering their training in order to offer visitors the best sauna experiences. In addition to providing an experience, the sauna master also has the task of making sure that everyone feels well in the sauna. Our sauna masters were trained by Dr Annelii Jürgenson, a rehabilitation specialist at the North Estonia Medical Centre.

There are different saunas, but all of them have a healing effect

There are many different saunas; the most popular in Estonia are, for example, the traditional wood-heated Finnish sauna, the Turkish steam bath, the infrared sauna and the Russian sauna. Elamus SPA has 22 different saunas, where everyone will find one to suit them – some prefer a strong steam sauna, some a gentler aroma sauna, some a steam room, and some prefer to soak in the Japanese bath instead.

Dr Jürgenson notes that regardless of the type of sauna, they have a healing and positive effect on our supporting and connective tissues. In the sauna the muscles relax and we get help with various connective tissue strains and overloads.  

The sauna also offers relief for chronic joint and muscle conditions as well as for back problems, nerve inflammation and nerve pain in the arms. With bone and joint diseases, however, one should be careful with post-sauna cooling processes, as these may actually aggravate the condition.

Sauna treatments also have a direct effect on the heart and circulatory system. Blood vessels dilate, blood pressure falls and the pulse improves. As a result of all this, our body’s overall blood supply improves, and to give off excess heat we begin to sweat.

Sauna rules

Still, Dr Jürgenson urges us to remember that all these positive effects can only work if certain sauna rules and recommendations are followed.

You should definitely not eat a very full meal before going to the sauna, and you should avoid consuming alcohol; among drinks you could have mineral water or tea.

Check your pulse before entering the sauna. If after the sauna your pulse exceeds the initial number of beats by more than 14 beats, it means the temperature is too high for your body.

It is not recommended to stay in a hot sauna (70–80 degrees) for more than 15 minutes at a time. If you notice red patches on the body, you should stop immediately, as this indicates damage to the circulation.

With cooling procedures, people with high blood pressure, heart conditions or chronic lung diseases should be more careful, as sudden cooling causes an extreme rise in arterial pressure in the pulmonary circulation, and this increases the breathing rate.

What happens if you start to feel unwell in the sauna?

Sauna rituals are mostly pleasant, but it can also happen that someone starts to feel unwell or even collapses. For such a case the sauna masters have the knowledge of how to help a person.

If someone should collapse during a ritual or feel that they are unwell, the first thing to do is to seat the person outside the sauna. Take a metal bowl of cold water and place the person’s feet in it. This cools the body the fastest. If that does not help, use cold towels to cool the arms and offer room-temperature water to drink.

If you do not love a hot sauna…

Not everyone loves or tolerates a hot sauna. That does not mean, however, that you have to miss out on the joys of the sauna. Elamus SPA has many low-temperature saunas and the rituals held in them, which suit almost everyone, children included.

For example the aroma ritual, whose keywords are meditation, breathing and relaxation.

In a low-temperature sauna it is easy to close your eyes, sense different aromas and enjoy the alternation of hot and cold that the sauna master creates with a fan and a gentle mist. The aromas help take you far from your thoughts and relax both mentally and physically, so that those 10 minutes feel like a fulfilling rest.

For true sauna gourmets, however, there is the steam ritual

The steam ritual is certainly not for everyone. The step-by-step increase in heat and the pleasant final steam are a fair test even for the hardiest bathers.

Whisking and ice-cold water in the middle of the ritual make it a true sauna experience.

In the bucket you will find pleasant whisks with which to heal the spirit, and cold water and ice with which to refresh yourself. The steam water, meanwhile, holds pleasant aromas so that all the senses are invigorated.